Date of Award

Fall 12-24-2020

Document Type

Independent Study

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Nursing

Program Affiliation

Nurse Educator (NE)

First Advisor

Kris Hendrickx

Abstract

Traditional undergraduate training focuses heavily on clinical skills with minimal emphasis on leadership. In practice, a nurse with clinical prowess is often promoted to the charge nurse position. Taking on the leadership role of a charge nurse can be a stressful experience without proper training and preparation that leads to burnout and turnover. With more experienced nurses facing retirement, now is the time to prepare future nursing leaders. This starts with adequately preparing a nurse to lead within the unit in the charge nurse role. A comprehensive literature review was conducted regarding charge nurse orientation. Charge nurse competencies were not conclusive, but there is a common trend. This nurse needs to develop knowledge, skills and attitudes in organizational functioning, clinical knowledge, interpersonal dynamics, and cognitive processing. Orientation includes didactic and interactive teaching strategies based on adult learning theory. Successful orientation should include mentoring with an experienced charge nurse. Organizations that support mentoring and continue to develop leaders, grow leaders from within. Training has a financial consideration for an organization that can be mitigated with a thorough orientation. Charge nurse orientation improves job satisfaction, manager and physician satisfaction, decreases stress and improves patient outcomes mitigating the financial impact. Orientation has positive impacts on the novice charge nurse, unit, organization and patients.

Included in

Nursing Commons

COinS